Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Inglourious Basterds can be summed up in three simple words: Christoph Freaking Waltz. The dude’s portrayal of the bipolar, slightly crazy, wickedly devious “Jew Hunter” Col. Hans Landa is impeccable. And he can act in three languages! How cool is that?

Including the awesomeness of Mr. Waltz, Basterds has a lot going for it. Both Melanie Laurent and Bradd Pitt are on their A-game and, though he thankfully says little, Eli Roth’s Bear Jew is one of those semi-iconic characters you can see lingering in movie-goers’ minds for quite some time.

Quintin Tarantino’s latest piece, as odd as it feels describing a movie with an extremely graphic scalping scene by this word, is absolutely delightful.

The music is fantastic, as always, and the dialogue moves along at a perfect rat-a-tat pace.Some scenes drag on a little and I would have liked to see more of the Basterds onscreen, but otherwise, I have few gripes with this over-the-top war epic.

Paying homage to the propaganda films that serve as a key focus of the plot, Tarantino cares little for historical accuracy in Basterds, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment to be had in this complex, multi-layered “wo/men on a mission” tale.

With a couple cameos thrown in for good measure, including the surprisingly appropriate Mike Myers and the voice-over work of Samual L. M-er F-ing Jackson, there’s little not to like about Inglourious Basterds.

You care about the characters, even the bad guys, and that is perhaps one of the best compliments I can give.

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staticEchoes is the home of Ryan Winslett, an Arizona-based journalist and freelance writer. Ryan is the editor-in-chief for The Fountain Hills Times and a contributing writer for Gaming Blend. His work has also appeared on Paste, Joystiq, Gamasutra, Bit Creature and Joystick Division, among others.Ryan's LinkedIn profile can be found here.